They say it's your birthday

Well actually, I'm saying it's MY birthday. Today I am 34 years old. It feels like the last year before a new stage in life starts, 34 is the end of 25-34, which for me has been my baby making stage. So it's fitting for me that a quick pic this morning is of me in my PJs with my babies (NB photo taken after a 36 hour run of a gastro bug that hit everyone but the baby, so am glad we even have the energy to smile!)



I'm starting a 365 project today. It will be done in a journal but I will also put some on my entries on here. Some entries will be pictures, some just journalling, some whatever strikes me. I am hoping that recording a year of life will be something I look back on with fondness later on and that it will give my children, when they are older, an insight into what it was like for me. My memories of childhood are very egocentric, I think now it would be interesting to know what my mother was thinking at times.

Anyway, here is my main birthday present. Very sweet, very practical and hand engraved by my husband. I will gets lots of use out of it!



The simple things really are the best.

Being creative

Over the last year we have deliberatedly slowed our lives down considerably. Our stress is certainly lowered because of this, but it is pretty much offset at this stage by an appalling lack of sleep. And by the time we start to get some sleep, I'll have been back at work a few months, so my stress may not have a chance to go down at all!

One way I am trying to both engage the creative side of my brain, be productive with my hands, de-stress and spend time with friends, is through paper crafting. Something I never thought I'd do but it turns out I don't mind it.

Over the last year I have not bought a single card, other than the Christmas cards we ordered that doubled as a baby name/arrival annoucement (which was always going to be a one-off). In the last month I've also started scrapbooking a little and here are two pages I created on the weekend. The photos, which were taken by Barb from Jinky Art, were taken a few years ago when she needed some last minute models for an advert to go in a parenting magazine. A photo of my eldest (straight hair) was used which was exciting. Even better though, was the two sets of stunning photos we received in lieu of payment. Bartering at it's best :) Thanks to Barb for allowing me to share these on the 'net.

What I've been up to

Over then last few months, I've been doing:

1. Nothing very green, the garden sits idle, nothing dying but nothing growing. Bring on spring!
2. Tried to return to work one day a week but due to almost constantly ill kids had to knock that off after about 7 weeks.
3. Crafting when I can, but everything is difficult when you are exhausted because your gorgeous baby still isn't a sleeper at almost 8 months old.

Pictorially, I've been doing this:

Adoring my beautiful Summer...





Learning about space with my big girls (lowers my guilt about the ginormous TV I finally caved in and let dh buy)




Making far too many identical cards for a swap I'm in. You cannot really tell from the picture but there are a whole bunch of fiddly bits to these cards. This was my first ever swap and I now understand why my friend Sue was unable to find time to do it between fulltime work, three kids, sickness and renovations... will start earlier with the next one!



In 6 weeks our lives change once again - I return to work and the MOTH becomes a SAHM. Things never stay the same around here!

It's still raining

Just had to note this down. It has been raining on and off for days. and this is the forecast for th next six days:

Forecast for Friday Local early fog then fine until isolated afternoon showers develop. Partly cloudy with moderate westerly winds.
City Precis: Mostly fine.
City: Min 7 Max 15
Saturday Possible late shower. Min 2 Max 15
Sunday Possible shower. Min 4 Max 12
Monday Possible shower. Min 5 Max 11
Tuesday Possible shower. Min 3 Max 11
Wednesday Possible shower. Min 2 Max 11

Wow.

So finally I can talk about the garden!

I said my next post would be about the garden, so I haven't written until I had something to write about. Unfortunately I need to charge the camers battery, so all I can do is write about it!

Yesterday we spent a few hours in the backyard. I deheaded agapanthas and tidied up the geraniums. All of these plants are secondhand and it is amazing how well they are doing. I am doing well sticking to my not buying any inedible plants for the backyard. We also cleaned out the cubby house and I finally planted up and mulched my new garden beds. Unfortunately I had to use seedlings as I just didn't get my act together this year...

I planted:
2 types of cabbage
2 types of onion
Mini cauliflowers
Brocolli
2 types of lettuce
Oregano
Celery
Strawberries

The last two are undercover to protect from frost. The rest are on their own!

The good news is it rained a little overnight, perfect timing :)

Happy (belated) Mother's Day

Life is crazy and I am dog paddling rather than stepping forward on the sustainability path. Mostly because I have THAT 2 yr old, you know the one where people say "is she always this, ummm, active?" Luckily for her, her activity level is matched only by her charm and humour. And in addition I have my gorgeous Possum, who will be 5 months on Wednesday. How time flies when you stare at her beautiful grin. She couldn't smile wider if you she tried.

There will gardening news in my next entry. Really.

My simple isn't quite the simple of yesteryear

I had a moment of reflection earlier today. Miss 2 and I were throwing Easter Eggs (still more, why oh why must my in-laws buy half a shop of them for my girls?) into the thermomix, to turn them into choc chips for the biscuit dough we were preparing. In the background I could hear the washing machine going, against my legs the slightly open door of the dishwasher which has just finished it's run. At that moment, the microwave beeped to let me know the butter was melted and the timer on the oven went off to announce the cakes (2 banana, 1 coconut) were baked.

5 machines, pretty much all going at the same time, were at that moment enabling me to lead this 'simpler' life. The definition of simple sure has changed...